Sixers Didn’t Draft Kristaps Porzingis Because of the Fans?

Jahlil Okafor is having a great rookie season. He is everything he was advertised to be on the Offensive end of the court, and lacks in all of the areas we had heard about on the Defensive side of the ball. Do we have a reason to complain about the pick? Not really. He is currently putting up amazing numbers and will be in contention for the ROY at the end of the year.

However, would the Sixers look much more explosive, dynamic, and further on their way to prominence with 7’3″ Athletic Freak Kristaps Porzingis playing next to Nerlens Noel? Absolutely! The fact that the Latvian born star has been up and down in the early parts of his career is no surprise. He is adjusting to a new game. However, he has STAR written all over him, while we have questions about Jahlil, and there has even been talk about trades since he and Nerlens don’t really fit well together. Also, even having been up and down, his season looks pretty damn good to me.

So, why am I talking about this on a random, cold as hell, Tuesday when we have a Doug Pederson Press Conference coming up at 2pm (live streaming here… Shameless plug)? Well, because of what was said by the NY Post on the 17th.

It’s hard to imagine that if new 76ers assistant coach Mike D’Antoni or new adviser Jerry Colangelo were in place last June, Philadelphia would have passed on 7-foot-3 Latvian Kristaps Porzingis with the third pick in the draft and let him slip to the Knicks. D’Antoni and Colangelo are noted sophisticates of the international game.

Sources have indicated Philly ownership was gung-ho to take one of the Big 3 — Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor or D’Angelo Russell — because taking another unknown European project may not have sat well with a disenchanted fan base.

As The Post has reported, Knicks president Phil Jackson would have done the same thing as Sixers GM Sam Hinkie — chosen Okafor over Porzingis. According to a source, the Knicks were still concerned about Okafor’s “defense, lack of shot-blocking ability and poor lateral speed,” but still had him higher on the board than Porzingis.”

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If this is true, not only was the wrong choice made, but Sixers ownership seems to be spending too much time listening to radio and reading blogs (unless they are reading ours, in which case continue on), and not enough time trying to make the correct sports business decisions for this franchise.

So what is this all about? More of a public airing of frustration. The Sixers suck. We are the running joke for the entire country. We still seem lost in our search for a return to prominence. And I’m starting to lose all patience for this process.

Plus, just imagine this next to Noel for the next 10 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1rr1wNBwcI

What do you think? Let us know in the comments and on Social Media.